Image at War

A kick-off talk by Vasyl Cherepanyn (Ukraine)

This evening is part of Hybrid Peace by Visual Culture Research Center (Kyiv, Ukraine).

In this introductory lecture, Vasyl Cherepanyn will analyze the cultural and political context of Ukraine during the war, where radical attitudes and hostility have continued to increase, and hate speech has spread on both national and international levels. The presentation focuses on the functioning of public institutions after the Maidan revolution under the conditions of war and occupation, connecting symbolic and real violence to their influence on cultural processes in Ukrainian society. Art has become a political subject, and this lecture traces how artistic, academic, and political antagonisms have developed from the perspective of VCRC, a cultural institution.

Vasyl Cherepanyn is head of the Visual Culture Research Center (VCRC) from Kyiv. He works as a lecturer at the Cultural Studies Department of the University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. He also worked as a guest lecturer at European University Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), at University of Helsinki, at the "Political Critique" Institute for Advanced Studies in Warsaw, and at Greifswald University. He was a visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. In 2018, he edited the Guidebook of the Kyiv International (Medusa Books) and curated '68 NOW and The European International projects. VCRC is the organizer of The School of Kyiv - Kyiv Biennial 2015 and The Kyiv International - Kyiv Biennial 2017. VCRC has received the European Cultural Foundation's Princess Margriet Award for Culture in 2015, and the Igor Zabel Award Grant for Culture and Theory 2018.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSHybrid Peace is made possible
through the generous support of: Mondriaan Fund, The City of The Hague,
Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development.